Change climate? Look at me, not energy!

MANILA - Today, a radical new view on climate change flashed in my mind. I now present to the world a new equation, my highly unusual, very original

E ≠ c2

Energy is not equal to Climate Change. Before I explain it, let me say this is a radical non-equation that I believe at the very least matches the power and significance of Albert Einstein's genius of an equation

E = mc2

Energy equals Matter times the Speed of Light squared. Einstein's formula is in the positive, and therein lies its atomic power; mine is more in the negative, actually, and therein lies its universal power. With Einstein's formula, he intimates how the power of matter can be harnessed by man; with my non-formula that suggests another formula, I intimate how the power of man can be harnessed over the limitations of energy.

With E ≠ c2, I will show you why we can never solve climate change unless we shift our paradigm from matter to mind.

Here's where I'm coming from. Let me explain by first assuming that the times, they're a-changing. Are all you radicals, rebels, revolutionaries, recalcitrants - antis of all kinds - are you aware of what's happening overall? Are you paying attention? If you don't mind, never mind.

These are the times that fry men's souls - if you have souls. If you don't, I know you have bodies, and that's enough for me. Your bodies are being targeted right now, not your ideologies - I'm assuming you really have binding ideologies and not merely hidden agendas.

So I'm not worried anymore about enemies of the state, enemies of peace, enemies of the body politic, enemies of reason, enemies of marriage, enemies of gender, enemies of family, enemies of population, enemies of the rich (I don't belong there), enemies of the poor (including the poor themselves who would rather not help themselves).

We have a common enemy, and it's bigger than all of us combined. And its defeat must be as soon as possible, ASAP.

Bill Bigelow quotes Bill McKibben (rethinkingschools.org) saying 'that the question is of transcendent urgency, that it represents one overarching global civilizational challenge that humans have ever faced.' If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

And just what is the question? Climate Change, which is not a question anymore. It's an equation, and it's mine:

Climate Change = Global Warming + Global Cooling.

And who are those who blast into the atmosphere the most greenhouse gases that lead directly to climate change? The richest countries; and of course, the US is #1. Shame on #1! The poorest countries suffer more for the sins of the richest. The quality of mercy is quite strained.

The problem is that climate change means nothing to most people, and top leaders of the world simply ignore it. I'm talking about the adults of this world. They're hopeless. Only the youth remain to be our hope, as the Philippine national hero Jose Rizal put it in Spanish, la bella esperanza de la patria mia (the fair hope of my fatherland).

As to you adults, including winners of the Nobel Prize for Peace: Your nuclear threat, or your genocidal tendency, or your racial vengeance, or your imperial designs are nothing compared to this looming global menace. We are in all this together, enemies to the end if we don't watch out and do what must be done. And the end is not as you like it.

Their Old Testament times are visited on our New Testament times. It's David versus Goliath once more. Do we have enough stones for our slingshots? Actually, we need only one stone: our faith. (What can I say about those who leave their faith behind when they report to work in a government office? Pathetic.)

It works this way:

The popular paradigm is to look at climate change as the issue of energy use and abuse. ±E = ±c2. That is, plus or minus Energy equals plus or minus Climate Change. It's just a matter of Hot & Cold, right?

Fire and Ice
Robert Frost, American

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

I just love Robert Frost; he published this in December 1920. It's obvious, isn't it? Yes. But: If you see only the obvious, you're only half thinking.

89 years after Fire and Ice, it just occurred to me a few minutes ago (at about 1300 hours 28 October) that looking at climate change as an energy problem is wrong. Climate change is neither fire nor ice. In ±E = ±c2, Energy is only the symptom of the disease; in fact, climate change simply is the sign of the disease; it is neither the cause nor the disease itself!

Degradation is the disease. You cannot degrade matter, right? You can only transform it. Neither energy. The real cause of the disease has to do with our degrading lifestyles, not with our spending energies. The true cause of Climate Change is ±Materialism, Plus or Minus Materialism. Materialism degrades Earth; it does not ennoble Man.

Energy is neutral; Materialism is not. Energy is subject to wise use; Materialism can only be abuse.

No wonder we're having an excruciatingly difficult time solving ±Climate Change - we are looking at the huge thing with crossed eyes. We have the lights that failed.

The correct equation is ±L = ±c2. Meaning, plus or minus Lifestyles equals plus or minus Climate Change.

For the Christians, they must look into the mirror of Christianity to check their lifestyles and resolve Climate Change. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. We must all act on the basis of the common good. If you ask us Roman Catholics what we think constitutes the common good, we will have to consult the Teaching Authority of the Church who must consult not only the Holy Bible but also Holy Traditions. Right now, all I can frankly say is that the Roman Catholic Church does not advocate materialism:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. - Matthew 6: 19-21 NRSV

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. - Mahatma Gandhi, Indian

God invented Matter; man invented Materialism. In the United States, they call it Gross Domestic Product. I call it Gross. Capitalism is neutral; materialism is not.

The best things in life aren't things - Art Buchwald, American

The high price of materialism is Decay. -Materialism, minus Materialism is the solution to the cause of the disease called Degradation that is masquerading as simply Climate Change. The need to reduce our materialism to the nth degree is the most inconvenient truth about climate change. If we go on clinging to our entitlements and human rights, as in, continuing in the relentless pursuit of the American Dream, we'll never resolve climate change - now then, climate change will resolve us.

So, what am I saying: That we abandon our efforts at reducing consumption of energy all over the world? No, but I'm telling you it's only a second-best solution. For myself, I want the best!

With so many creeds and colors, races and religions, how do we look for the common good? Like The Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, we must look into our hearts; like The Straw Man, we must look inside our head; like The Cowardly Lion, we must look for bravery within ourselves; and like Dorothy, we must look with our feet how to go back home to where our family is.

Another way of putting it is this:
What we need less are changes in our energy consumption.
What we need more are changes in our lifestyle.

Let us strive so that every little thing that we do contributes to the common best. Let us strive so that each little one of us contributes to minimizing the risk of climate change. Right where we are now, whatever we do whoever we are wherever whenever.

To be practical about it, all we have to do is remember 3 little words, the greatest of the 3 Rs:
Reduce.
Reuse.
Recycle.

As in:
Reduce your hate. Zero Hate, Max Love!
Reuse your mind. Think creatively.
Recycle your garbage. Enrich other people's lives.